1949 NERC Season

The 1949 NERC Season was the 4th season of the North-Eastern Runty Championship, the first professional runty league in the world. This season featured 6 teams, who each played each other home-and-away, as well as two extra games, for a total of 12 weeks of regular season play.

The Buffalo Panthers, to finish an undefeated season, won their first Champions Cup, defeating the Bronx Bears by 4 goals.

Regular Season
The NERC’s 4th season began on April 30, 1949, at the traditional 3:00 timeslot. Those games included a surprising 36-19 blowout of Boston by Hempstead, a dull 17-17 tie between the Bronx and Buffalo, and a strong 31-21 victory at home for New York over Staten Island.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Week 1: Staten Island 21-31 New York

Week 2: Hempstead 15-28 Buffalo

Week 3: Boston 15-44 Buffalo

Week 4: Hempstead 30-21 New York

Week 5: New York 20-31 Buffalo

Week 6: Boston 21-19 Hempstead

Week 7: Buffalo 24-19 New York

Week 8: Hempstead 24-21 Staten Island

Week 9: Boston 15-16 the Bronx

Week 10: Hempstead 20-17 the Bronx

Week 11: New York 14-26 Buffalo

Week 12: Boston 25-20 New York

Week 13: Buffalo 44-28 Boston

1. BUFFALO PANTHERS

Leading Goalscorer: Allen Formock (15)

Finishing first were the Buffalo Panthers, and they could not be stopped. Offseason signings pushed them over the edge, as they acquired high-octane F Allen Formock and shutdown D Larry Whitipan. These two players added to an already promising group pushed them over the edge. Formock led the league in goals, Artie Booth had a career year, and the defense was insane, allowing over 20 points only once all year. Their only blemish from a perfect season was a 17-17 opening week tie against the Bears. Buffalo finished 11-0-1, the heavy favourites to win it all.

2. HEMPSTEAD CLIPPERS

Leading Goalscorer: Joe Pitts (13)

Improving from 1948 and finishing second were the Hempstead Clippers. Despite the loss of Formock up front, rookie Joe Pitts replaced him and did very well, finishing in a tie for second in goalscoring. As well, Abram Bergling and Porter Norton also continued their upward progression. Their team play looked better and better as the year progressed, and they won 4 of their last 5 games to clinch the #2 seed and home-field advantage in the first round. The Clippers finished at 8-4, and were the only other team besides the Panthers to finish with a positive point differential.

3. THE BRONX BEARS

Leading Goalscorer: Cedric Ekling (8)

Slightly improving from 1948 and finishing in 3rd were the Bronx Bears. No major changes were made to their roster over the offseason, and their offense and defense played at similar levels to the previous year. One bright spot for them was the emergence of Cedric Ekling, who led the Bears lackluster offense. On the other hand, Chester Uptan had a down year, only scoring 6 goals. However, despite their inferiority offensively, their defense kept them in playoff contention to the end, and gave them the bragging rights of being the only team to keep Buffalo from a victory. That draw, and two late wins, gave them the edge and the final playoff spot. The Bears finished at 6-5-1.

4. BOSTON RIDERS

Leading Goalscorer: Alban Good (9)

Disappointingly finishing fourth and missing the playoffs after back-to-back title wins were the Boston Riders. The main culprit for this was core regression. Their offensive output, while still finishing in the top half of the league points-wise, went down noticeably. To make matters worse, their defense went from allowing 19 points per game in 1948 to a league-worst 23.9 in 1949. Despite this, they managed to hang on to a playoff spot until the final week of the season, where a 44-28 loss to Buffalo and a Bronx win knocked them out. The Riders finished at 6-6.

5. NEW YORK KNIGHTS

Leading Goalscorer: Joe Hunnith (9)

Finishing 5th for the second straight year were the New York Knights. Despite many sportswriters predicting a bounce back year from them, they regressed from a 3-7 record in 1948. Similar to Boston, their offensive output went down and their defensive struggles went up. Their only real bright spot was a bounceback season from Joe Hunnith, who went back to his team-leading goalscoring form. Not much else went right for them, and they finished at 2-10.

6. STATEN ISLAND ISLANDERS

Leading Goalscorer: Cyril Dinker (13)

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, finishing last once again were the Staten Island Islanders. However, there was some good news for them. They’d increased their points scored per game to 15.5, their highest in NERC history. Unfortunately for them, that was still far and away the worst offensive output in the league. Despite this, rookie Cyril Dinker put up thirteen goals, good for joint second in the league. So while there was some hope for the Islanders, it was yet another painful season for them, as they finished 2-10, last overall on point differential.

Standings
Once again, the NERC announced a new playoff format for the 1949 season. This time, they had decided on the simplest format yet: the 2nd and 3rd place teams would face off for the right to play the first-placed team in the Champions Cup. Fans everywhere breathed a sigh of relief when commissioner Elmer Wilkins announced that this format would likely stay put for the foreseeable future.

Notable Events:
-   The extra three weeks of games consisted of a mini round-robin format, where the 1st, 3rd, and 5th place teams after week 10 would play in one group, and the 2nd, 4th, and 6th place teams would play in the other. These were not considered playoff games, but rather an extension of the regular season.

-   With a loss in week 5, The Islanders became the first NERC team to lose 30 games. That loss was only their 37th game in the NERC.

-   Boston forward Alban Good somehow managed to legally play under the alias of “Al Goodens” while he was under a 3 game suspension.

-   In the week 4 game between Staten Island and Buffalo, players wore numbers on the front of their jerseys as well as the back, as a small experiment.

-   In the week 13 game between the Bronx and Hempstead, Clippers F John Wood missed a wide-open net at the last second, which would have won Hempstead the game. If the Clippers had won, the Bears would have been eliminated from the postseason, and the Riders would have taken their place as the #3 seed.